McINTYRE, VERNON JR. “JUNIOR” (c.1945-)

Born in Maryland, Junior McIntyre ended up in Cincinnati after playing banjo on the streets of New York City and around the Middletown-Hamilton area with Charley Fugate and the Virginia Playboys and with the Jackson Brothers. He played some of the bars on Vine Street in Cincinnati before getting a chance to play banjo with Earl Taylor at the Ken-Mill when Walter Hensley left to return to Baltimore. He played there with Earl, Jim McCall, and his father, Boatwhistle McIntyre, for more than six years. He also played with a Dayton-based group called the Easterners for a while. He and Jim McCall eventually formed the Appalachian Grass, which became one of the best bluegrass bands to call Cincinnati home. After he and Jim split, he kept the Appalachian Grass name and is still fronting a band with that name in 2016, playing guitar and singing lead. He is highly regarded as a banjo instructor with players such as Jason Wolfe of the Rumpke Mountain Boys and Trina Emig of Ma Crow and the Lady Slippers giving him credit for getting them off to a good start.